Goodnight Sweet Prince
by kaiserzacc
Summary: The final battle. Harry goes to confront his destiny only to be followed by those he loves most.


"Petrificus Totalus" Harry whispered as he pointed his wand at Ginny Weasley.

"Wha…" A look of comprehension flitted across her freckled face soon followed by a terror. Then the curse hit her, knocking her to the ground immobilized.

_No…Nooooo…Harry stop…Harry please…_

He was kneeling next to her whispering.

"…will be safe now. I know that you would try and stop me but this has to be done. Please understand why I'm doing this. No one else should have to die. Not for me, not because of me." Tears were running down his face now. "I love you Ginny Weasley. I will always love you. Please don't morn me. Just know that I know that there is another side of the veil and I will wait for you there. I will wait as long as it takes. I will wait for you with Sirius and my mum and dad. And I'll make sure that Charlie and your dad are there too. We will all wait for you." Desperation was in his eyes. "Tell Ron that I said to love her. He knows who I mean. And tell Hermione to be strong because I know that she is and that Ron needs her. He just doesn't know how to tell her. Tell them all that I love them and will miss them. Make them understand, please, Ginny. I love them all and I will be waiting for them. I love you Ginny."

Another tear streaked down his weary battle dirtied face leaving a pink streak on his cheek as he kneeled down and gently kissed her on her forehead.

With that he stood up, briefly gazed down at her immobilized form as if to etch the love of his life in his memory, turned and walked into the midst of the pitched battle between the forces of good and evil.

He walked as though he were invincible, not even flinching as curses and hexes missed him by inches. He walked through the carnage that is war and didn't stop until he had reached the crest of a small hill. He frowned to himself thinking that the valley had been peaceful and beautiful not three hours earlier.

_This had all started when a small group of Aurors had surprised a larger group of death eaters in the act of killing a handful of muggles. More Aurors had apparated in to help, likewise more death eaters appeared. The Order had been notified and the minor skirmish had turned into the only full scale battle of the war. Finally Voldemort himself had shown up._

_It was then that Harry had the vision of the carnage that was being wrought by the death eaters on the Aurors, on the Order, on his friends and it was then that he knew what had to be done. He had apparated from the burrow only to find that his friends had followed. Immediately Ron and Hermione had started helping people who were down, Ron standing guard while Hermione cast the healing charms she had researched. _

_Ginny stood at his side fighting like a wildcat against anyone who came near enough to her wand. But after three hours of fighting it was obvious that the death eaters were gaining the upper hand. It was then that he made up his mind. At the next pause in the action he had turned to her and smiled. Her return smile lit up her face, until he raised his wand and whispered the spell which would stop her from following him. He knew that she would never let him cast the spell that he had found in the ancient texts at the school. _

As he looked down from his perch on the hill he saw a large group of black cloaked death eaters clustered back away from the battle. Raw power crackled in the air as Harry raised his left hand to point at the center of the group.

"TOM RIDDLE!" The name rolled like thunder across the battlefield. A head in the midst of the legion of hooded figures turned and stared with red eyes at the solitary figure on the hill.

"RIDDLE, THIS ENDS NOW!" Slowly the sounds of battle ceased as men and women from both sides turned to see the skinny seventeen year old boy on the hill call out one of the most evil and powerful creatures the world had ever seen.

"RIDDLE!" The name sounded like a thunderclap as death eaters turned to see their leader respond.

A look of calm appeared to settle on the face of the boy who had thwarted Voldemort so many times as the Dark Lord started to advance. As he reached the edge of his guard Harry closed his eyes and leaned his head back to the heavens and did the unthinkable.

Harry Potter dropped his wand.

High pitched laughter started to emanate from the Dark Lord's inhuman body and he advanced faster thinking that he had already won.

A smile creased Harry's lips one last time as he whispered "I love you Ginny."

He then looked at the advancing figure before him and uttered the incantation he had found.

"Immolo aetas amo." Harry whispered.

Even though he barely spoke aloud, the incantation resonated through the minds of every person within a mile.

A few hundred yards away the incantation on Ginny was released and she began running to Harry at the top of the hill, tears streaming down her face.

A wind seemed to spring up from all directions at once and rush at the figure standing at the top of the hill whipping his raven hair and robes around him. As the wind began to pummel him bright white light started to radiate from his body. The light grew brighter and brighter until no one was able to look at it. Everyone was able to look away except for the dark lord himself. He seemed to be unable to look away from his doom.

Ginny stopped running and started screaming.

"NOOOOOOOOOO…" Tears flowed down her face.

From many miles away it looked as though a new sun had been born in the green valleys of southern Scotland.

In muggle military centers around the world computers designed to detect nuclear explosions all received a surge of power frying their motherboards.

On the little known battle field in a valley in Scotland, Harry Potter was encased in a column of pure white light, his face contorted in ecstasy and pain. Images of his mum, his dad, Sirius, Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, Remus, Arthur and Molly Weasley, Albus Dumbledore, Tonks, the Weasley twins, and his friends from school filled his mind. As the thought of his adopted family and all of his friends went through his mind the light grew more intense. Then, the face of his love came into his head. Images of the time they shared together played across his minds eye and with each image the light pulsed and grew more intense. Finally the memory of the first time he and Ginny kissed came crashing into his consciousness. Harry Potter opened his eyes and looked at the inhuman being standing in front of him with compassion in his eyes.

Fear registered in the face of the Dark Lord as he finally understood the power that this boy held.

In that instant Harry pointed his finger at Voldemort's chest causing the power which had been building in the column to shoot into the Dark Lord. The being once known as Tom Riddle was lifted in the air and an unearthly scream issued from his lips only to be replaced deadly silence. Not a sound was heard on the battlefield.

Suddenly Riddle's head ripped back and light spilled from his mouth. His arms and legs splayed out and beams of light ripped from each of his fingers.

Higher and higher Harry lifted his arm causing the figure to levitate even higher. When he was finally high enough in the air for the entire battlefield to see, more beams of light shot forth from Lord Voldemort's body striking each of his death eaters as they watched the demise of their Lord. One by one they crumpled to the ground lifeless.

Then, just as suddenly as it had started the wind stopped and the light dimmed. Silence reigned supreme as Harry Potter, The-boy-who-defeated-Voldemort, slumped to the ground and died.

Voldemort's body crashed to the ground as all who remained stood and looked to where their hero had fallen.

From some, a great cheer rose up. Many others began to weep. A few began to run to their fallen friend.

Among the first to reach him were a tall gangly youth and a shorter bushy haired girl. Tears streamed silently down their faces as they knelt by his body.

"He's gone." She said in disbelief and began to sob. Immediately the young man enfolded her in his long arms and held her to his chest.

They looked up as another figure collapsed on the body of their friend. Sobs racked her body as she wept on the chest of her fallen love.

"Wait for me love. Someday I'll be there with you. I love you Harry Potter." She whispered into his chest. "Goodnight, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy sleep."

Silently, Ron and Hermione gathered her into their embrace. Together they mourned in the pale afternoon sunlight on a day when the rest of the world celebrated.

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81 years later…

An old woman with a shock of pure white hair cascading down the back of her rocker sat dozing in the warm spring sun. She was sitting in her favourite chair in her flower garden. The smell of lilac and roses permeated the air and the sounds of bee's buzzing and children playing in nearby fields filled her ears. Slowly her head drifted to one side as she drifted deeper into sleep.

She began to dream.

_She was walking through a lush green valley. Somewhere nearby she could hear a stream babbling. She looked around somehow knowing that she had been here before. She knew that just over the rise there was a hill. As she walked up the rise her heart began to pound in her chest. She had been dreaming of that hill for eighty one years. _

_As she crested the rise she paused. Knowing that in her dreams she always saw him dead on the hill. But as she looked up to the hill there was not a crumpled form lying in the heather. _

_There was a figure standing at the top of the hill looking into the distance. As she stood staring at the figure a light breeze stirred his unruly raven hair. The motion of his hair broke her paralysis and she began to run up the hill. Her beautiful hair no longer white with old age shone brilliantly in the sunlight. She ran to him not noticing the arthritis which had plagued her for so many years had gone. Tears streaked down cheeks no longer furrowed by wrinkles. _

_When she reached him he lifted her into an embrace and swung her around. She held on to him weeping for what seemed like hours before gently setting her back on her feet._

_He kissed her gently on her forehead and pushed her head back to his chest._

"_Shhh…it's ok now…" he whispered softly as he caressed her hair. "I told you that I would wait here for you. Now we can be together again. You're home now. I love you Ginny."_

"_I love you too, Harry. I've missed you so much. I wanted to grow old with you so badly. And by the way…" She suddenly reached back and punched him as hard as she could in the stomach. He doubled over as his breath forcibly exited his body. "That's for jinxing me at the battle eighty-one years ago." _

"_Have you really been saving that up for eighty-one years?" He wheezed._

"_Yes, I have, but I've also saved this too…" She leaned over and kissed him with every fibre of her being. _

_After a brief pause he returned the kiss and swept her off her feet again. _

_When air began to be scarce they broke apart and he enveloped her in another soul warming embrace._

"_I should have been prepared for that. Your dad did warn me that you had some violent tendencies." He whispered to her._

_Her eyes flashed dangerously as she looked up sharply. "Violent tendency…wait my dad told you that?"_

_He set her down again and took her by her shoulders gently turning her back to the valley. There, nestled next to the stream was her childhood home, the Burrow. She could see that the tables had been brought outside and had piles of food weighing it down. Seated at one end of the table her father sat smiling at her. At the other end of the table sat her mum. On the far side sat her brothers Percy, Bill, Charlie and the twins Fred and George. On the near side was Ron, Hermione, Sirius, Remus, a tall black haired man, and a shorter red haired woman that could have passed as her twin._

"_Oh Harry is that…"_

"_Come on, love, I want you to meet my parents."_

_FIN_


End file.
